When the Brain Grabs a Tune and Won't Let Go
(registration required) (thanks Mike Martinez) has a quote that really resonates with me: "This
summer, a community board in Brooklyn has called for a limit on the playing of
the 'Mr. Softee' jingle by ice-cream trucks — a jingle that can be unbearably
memorable for those subjected to it for extended periods." MrsBlue can
attest to the fact that when we were in Brooklyn, the numerous times the
self-confessed flaccid ice cream man passed our home cause me to go around
whistling his insipid theme song. In connection with writing this I was
considering trying to find a link to the tune somewhere on the internet, but I
realized that would just be passing along the "infection." Hell, it's
been a few years since I've heard it and just writing this has got it running
through my head (argh!).

I refuse to admit how recently long ago I was still using keyboard controls from games such as Duke Nukem 3D or Dark Forces.

Heh - I was a hardcore keyboarder through Duke3D (still was beating everybody easily), Quake (the mousers were getting even with me by then) and half of Quake2, when I finally switched to the keyboard/mouse:

Dark Forces was awesome! I loved that game! I had much more fun with that one with Jedio Outcast. Plus there were tons of fairly good mods. The game was really easy to mod so there was all sorts of cool stuff.

No, it's a UMAX scanner that came with it's own SCSI card. Now for some reason it's not even working when I boot into Win98. I use it so little that I hate to think of having to buy a new one.

I had a problem like this, with a scanner. Wanna know the crazy fix that worked for me?Unplug the scanner from the back of your computer, then do a fresh restart of your computer. Then when you get in windows, plug it back up.

Sounds pointless and stupid, but it worked for me with a scanner that had it's own adapter card.

E= FowardD=BackwardsS=Strafe LeftF=Strafe rightI do this instead of the wasd that is typical, as it move my hands over slightly, allowing me to have more keys to use with my pinky.A=usually crawl (of also prone, then Z prones)R=Reloadq&w=Usually lean left and right, or in certain games, game specific tic, or specific weapon)CAPS=Walk/run/sprintG=Is almost always used for every game, some game specific thingMouse1=FireMouse2=JumpMouse3=Alt. FireMouse4=Use/activateSpace= Usually also = use/activate, as my thumb is always on it, unless a certain game needs lots of quick buttons, I stick with the mouse use.I find this gives me fast access to zxcvbt, as well as 123456 (i use a ergo curved keyboard, that is where it all brakes)This is 25+ keys that I have nearly instant access to, and that is with just my left hand. My mouse has 6 buttons+2 scroll wheels, those are usually used for game features as well (if needed)2 scroll wheels? waaa? I know that whole big deal about Microsoft releasing a dual scroller just came out, but A4Tech (www.a4tech.com) has had them for at least 3 years, as this mouse is now 3 years old!

*edit*Plus I also find that having my hand spread out over the area. And not limiting my self to 6 keys, or all one row, my head stays stretched out, stays more relaxed and is less likely to fatigue

Dude, I loved Dark Forces. Man, I have such great memories of playing that on my Mac. I use basically the same WASD setup as ray. I usually set F to "use" and X to "prone," however, if the options are available.

The noisy ad thing is what keeps my computer at work muted. I have space to myself and the only other person within earshot could give a crap what sounds are coming out of my speakers (except when it is Helmet or Manson), it's the customers and vendors I have to talk to on the phone. I don't want them hearing the noise.

3) The only problem I had with hardware is an old, but good, scanner I have that wont run with XP. I blame this partially on the manufacturer of the scanner since they basically refuse to put out the effort to create a driver for the thing.

Would that be an Epson scanner? I have one that worked great until I changed to XP. Now blah.

Software wise, the one popular program that pops into my head as being incompatible is any Easy CD Creator version before version 5. I'm sure there are more but this was the only one that got me.

That one was really bad. Roxio lost a lot of customers over that. Another is Corel WordPerfect. Microsoft manages to screw that program over every chance they get.